Question What do I use instead of XMP?

[GM-Otomon]

Hello, recently I got rid of my single 8GB and purchased a pair of "Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16"
My PC running on a intel Core i5-9400F is supposed to support up to 2666Mhz. I got the 3200Mhz cause its cheaper and was told it would just clock down the correct speed anyways...
Now here is the issue, they clocked down to the lowest 2133Mhz.. Im still getting a performance boost due to the dual channel but still, would like to get them going to the correct speed.
People told me I just need to turn on "XMP" but the issue is that my BIOS does not have that option anywhere, for reference my model is "Acer nitro n50-600"
Is there anything I can do? Or am I just stuck with lower speeds?

 

[cdrkf]

Hello, recently I got rid of my single 8GB and purchased a pair of "Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16"
My PC running on a intel Core i5-9400F is supposed to support up to 2666Mhz. I got the 3200Mhz cause its cheaper and was told it would just clock down the correct speed anyways...
Now here is the issue, they clocked down to the lowest 2133Mhz.. Im still getting a performance boost due to the dual channel but still, would like to get them going to the correct speed.
People told me I just need to turn on "XMP" but the issue is that my BIOS does not have that option anywhere, for reference my model is "Acer nitro n50-600"
Is there anything I can do? Or am I just stuck with lower speeds?

First question, what motherboard are you using? Memory overclocking (which is effectively what XMP does) is supported on Intels locked CPU's - but it depends on the main board, not all motherboards support it. I think you need a '60' or higher series board to be able to increase the ram speed above the officially supported figure. That said, you should still be able to set the speed up to 2666 mhz as the very least. The tricky bit is the exact wording / location of the settings varies between motherboard vendor - memory settings are usually in the advanced / tweaking or performance menu (depending on board maker) - in there you should be able to change the memory settings to manual and change the values. If it will let you set the speed to 3200 and also make sure the dram voltage value is set as per the specs on the box the memory came in (default DDR4 voltage is 1.2V if I remember correctly, however most higher clocked kits will need more than this e.g. 1.3 or 1.4v to be stable).

 

[SkyNetRising]

People told me I just need to turn on "XMP" but the issue is that my BIOS does not have that option anywhere, for reference my model is "Acer nitro n50-600"

What options do you have in BIOS?
Show screenshots.
Also show screenshots from CPU-Z - memory and spd sections.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[GM-Otomon]

What options do you have in BIOS?
Show screenshots.
Also show screenshots from CPU-Z - memory and spd sections.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

BIOS: https://ibb.co/JQHPx4m

CPU-Z:https://ibb.co/vVfsHQt

First question, what motherboard are you using? Memory overclocking (which is effectively what XMP does) is supported on Intels locked CPU's - but it depends on the main board, not all motherboards support it. I think you need a '60' or higher series board to be able to increase the ram speed above the officially supported figure. That said, you should still be able to set the speed up to 2666 mhz as the very least. The tricky bit is the exact wording / location of the settings varies between motherboard vendor - memory settings are usually in the advanced / tweaking or performance menu (depending on board maker) - in there you should be able to change the memory settings to manual and change the values. If it will let you set the speed to 3200 and also make sure the dram voltage value is set as per the specs on the box the memory came in (default DDR4 voltage is 1.2V if I remember correctly, however most higher clocked kits will need more than this e.g. 1.3 or 1.4v to be stable).

intel Core i5-9400F... I did hear BIOS is "locked" in Acer models, but I was hoping there was a workaround, in Advanced only thing listed in "Peripherals"

 

[SkyNetRising]

in Advanced only thing listed in "Peripherals"

Can you show available options under Advanced?

Without manual configuration or XMP current ram will run at 2133mhz max.
For 2666mhz mode you need ram with SPD table entry for 2666mhz. Your ram doesn't have it.

 

[GM-Otomon]

Can you show available options under Advanced?

Without manual configuration or XMP current ram will run at 2133mhz max.
For 2666mhz mode you need ram with SPD table entry for 2666mhz. Your ram doesn't have it.

The options are:
-CPU and Chipset Configuration
-Integrated Peripherals
-PC Health Status


Thats it...but your basically saying my RAM cant do 2666Mhz.. so by trying to save 30$ I ended up wasting much more lol... gotta love PC gaming. Oh well atleast I got much better performance now with the dual channel, is 2133 that much of a difference from 2666? And is my RAM technically "underclocking" since its not running at its actual speed?

 

[cdrkf]

The options are:
-CPU and Chipset Configuration
-Integrated Peripherals
-PC Health Status


Thats it...but your basically saying my RAM cant do 2666Mhz.. so by trying to save 30$ I ended up wasting much more lol... gotta love PC gaming. Oh well atleast I got much better performance now with the dual channel, is 2133 that much of a difference from 2666? And is my RAM technically "underclocking" since its not running at its actual speed?

Have a look in the 'CPU and Chipset Configuration' - it's possible there are some memory related options in there...

If not then it's not a terrible problem running the memory at 2133. System memory performance is most important in systems using integrated graphics, however as you have to have a dedicated graphics board (given the processor) that isn't a massive issue. The increase in capacity to 16gb and the bandwidth boost of going to dual channel will give a much bigger benefit than the slight reduction in speed. There are benchmark's out there that suggest memory makes a larger difference than it does in most practical circumstances as the reviewers tend to engineer a situation to maximise the impact of ram performance (e.g. take an RTX 3090, paired with an overclocked 12900K running a game at 1080p minimum settings to push frame rates as high as they will go - in this rather unrealistic setup you can see large gains with faster ram. If you are running a more realistic setup and turn up the graphics settings then the load all shifts to the graphics card and the difference is likely to be very small to none).

 

[SkyNetRising]

The options are:
-CPU and Chipset Configuration

Show screenshots from
Advanced\CPU and Chipset Configuration

 

[geofelt]

If you bought a pair of 16gb kits, you do not have matched ram.
Ram must be matched for proper operation.
If it works, it will usually default to a base speed.
What can you do??
Probably not worth it to change out the ram.
You would likely not be able to tell the difference with faster ram.

 

[Bob.B]

Hello, recently I got rid of my single 8GB and purchased a pair of "Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16"
My PC running on a intel Core i5-9400F is supposed to support up to 2666Mhz. I got the 3200Mhz cause its cheaper and was told it would just clock down the correct speed anyways...
Now here is the issue, they clocked down to the lowest 2133Mhz.. Im still getting a performance boost due to the dual channel but still, would like to get them going to the correct speed.
People told me I just need to turn on "XMP" but the issue is that my BIOS does not have that option anywhere, for reference my model is "Acer nitro n50-600"
Is there anything I can do? Or am I just stuck with lower speeds?

When you purchased a 'pair' was that a kit of 2 sticks or 2 separate sticks?

 

[--SID--]

my model is "Acer nitro n50-600"

It only supports JEDEC, not XMP. You need to find RAM with a JEDEC 2666 profile.

 

[GM-Otomon]

Have a look in the 'CPU and Chipset Configuration' - it's possible there are some memory related options in there...

If not then it's not a terrible problem running the memory at 2133. System memory performance is most important in systems using integrated graphics, however as you have to have a dedicated graphics board (given the processor) that isn't a massive issue. The increase in capacity to 16gb and the bandwidth boost of going to dual channel will give a much bigger benefit than the slight reduction in speed. There are benchmark's out there that suggest memory makes a larger difference than it does in most practical circumstances as the reviewers tend to engineer a situation to maximise the impact of ram performance (e.g. take an RTX 3090, paired with an overclocked 12900K running a game at 1080p minimum settings to push frame rates as high as they will go - in this rather unrealistic setup you can see large gains with faster ram. If you are running a more realistic setup and turn up the graphics settings then the load all shifts to the graphics card and the difference is likely to be very small to none).

Unfortunately there was nothing there even remotely related to RAM, oh well! Like you said Im mostly only going to do basic stuff and I am one of those people who is perfectly fine running a game in 1080p on high settings. I already see a huge performance boost, used to take me like 5 minutes just to turn off PC, now its more like 30 seconds lol

Show screenshots from
Advanced\CPU and Chipset Configuration

Only thing there is graphics related and w/e the heck Intel AES-NI (one quick google says its for data encryption). So I guess its a no go.

If you bought a pair of 16gb kits, you do not have matched ram.
Ram must be matched for proper operation.
If it works, it will usually default to a base speed.
What can you do??
Probably not worth it to change out the ram.
You would likely not be able to tell the difference with faster ram.

Im confused about what you are saying? They are 2 identical sticks.

When you purchased a 'pair' was that a kit of 2 sticks or 2 separate sticks?

It was a kit of 2 identical sticks from Corsair.

It only supports JEDEC, not XMP. You need to find RAM with a JEDEC 2666 profile.

So basically I am out of luck? Dammit I guess the people who told me they would clock down to my mobos highest speed were all using systems that support XMP (or equivalent).... sigh